Donor's kin, organ recipient join in common cause

Jay Paris of Wernersville sports a button proclaiming his good fortune in having received a heart transplant.

Janet A. Hivner of Muhlenberg Township balances the grief of losing her son, Daniel, with the satisfaction of knowing that, as a result of his organs being donated, other people received new hope for life.

Jay Paris of Wernersville, who has lived for more than eight years with a donated heart, understands all too well the value of organ donation and the desperation of waiting for an organ to become available.

Hivner and Paris shared their very different perspectives on organ donation during a recent seminar sponsored by the Berks County Circle of Life Coalition, a nonprofit organization that seeks to educate the public on issues relating to the end of life.

Despite their different perspectives, they have a common goal. Both work to educate the public about the value of becoming organ donors.

"I really feel honored that I can speak on Daniel's behalf," Hivner said.

The mother's nightmare began with a phone call in June 1996, informing her that her son had been taken to a hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, where he was living with his wife and three children while working on a project for a German engineering firm.

She learned later that Daniel had been celebrating his birthday in a Bangkok bar when someone poisoned his drink, causing his heart to stop. By the time she and her husband got the phone call and made arrangements to travel to Thailand, all of her son's brain activity had stopped.

"We didn't know at that point that he was brain dead, but he was already gone," Hivner said.

Upon transferring Daniel from Bangkok to the Reading Hospital, his parents were faced with the prospect of disconnecting their son from life support and donating his organs. The decision to donate his heart, kidneys and liver was easy, Hivner said, as Daniel had indicated on his driver's license that he wished to be an organ donor.

"I knew my son wanted to be an organ donor because of his license and because of who he was," she said. "It was a blessing that he could save some lives."

Paris, 64, a Berks County native who worked for 28 years as a supervisor and technical assistant at Carpenter, confronted heart disease at an early age and was not surprised. His father, mother, two brothers and sisters all died of heart disease.

"Technically, I should not be here," Paris said.

After 15 years of living with congestive heart failure, Paris was placed on a list for a transplant and told that, without it, he wouldn't have long to live.

"My chances were that I would either get a heart or I'd die," he recalled.

When a heart became available nine months after Paris was added to the list, he was in bad shape.

"My personal feeling is that if I hadn't had the transplant I would have only lived for another week," he said.

The heart that now beats in Paris' chest, donated by a 42-year-old soccer coach, has served him well. However, anti-rejection drugs, which are vital for organ recipients, have damaged his kidneys to the point where he is once again awaiting a transplant.

This time, however, there's a ready donor - Paris' 40-year-old daughter, Shannon, has been found to be a match and will donate a kidney to her father. The surgery is scheduled for Nov. 30 in Hershey Medical Center.

For the second time, Paris said, he will be blessed with a donated organ.

"I'm just glad to be here," he said. "My son, my daughter, my wife and I were all signed up as organ donors before we knew we'd be involved with all this. It's ironic that within one family we'll have both a donor and a recipient."

Paris and Hivner, who both have benefited from organ donation, although for very different reasons, encouraged seminar attendees to consider signing up as donors. Donors can sign up on line at www.donatelife-pa.org.